Guest guest Posted July 6, 2009 Report Share Posted July 6, 2009 ---------- Forwarded message ---------- <sghosh Jul 6, 2009 4:23 PM Fw: NatureNews Jun, 2009 To: ----- Forwarded by /wwfindia on 07/06/2009 04:22 PM ----- Gita Warrier/wwfindia 07/03/2009 05:18 PM Subject: NatureNews Jun, 2009 ------------------------------ *NatureNews * June, 2009 *WELCOME to NatureNews from the Library & Documentation Centre, WWF-India, New Delhi.* *NatureNews is also available on our web site:* http://www.wwfindia.org/naturenews *NEWS* *Environment - General* *Environment protection authority on the anvil. *The Centre has intensified efforts to set up a National Environment Protection Authority for ensuring the implementation of the Environment Protection Act 1986 in letter and in spirit. The Authority, which will be backed by legislation, will replace the Central Pollution Control Board and will be an “independent, professional and science-based” body. It will monitor and ensure compliance of norms. Similar bodies will be constituted at the State level and they will replace the pollution control boards. “The job of the national authority will not be to give fast track approvals. It will be entrusted with the responsibility of approving or rejecting the proposals on the basis of scientific assessment,” Union Minister of State for Forests and Environment Jairam Ramesh said. For more: * http://www.hindu.com/2009/06/07/stories/2009060760091000.htm*<http://www.hindu.c\ om/2009/06/07/stories/2009060760091000.htm> *Rs. 1200 cr to restore Western Ghats. *Karnataka Government has prepared a Rs 1,200 crore project for protection and restoration of enormously damaged Western Ghats, one of the two biodiversity hot spots in the country. Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests, Jairam Ramesh said the state government has submitted this proposal to the Centre, which would look at it most sympathetically. " Western Ghats has been damaged enormously in the last few years. In the context of climate change, Western Ghats’ protection assumes special significance. We must find resources to restore and rejuvenate the Western Ghats " , he told reporters. Around 60 per cent of Western Ghats is located in Karnataka and the remaining in Kerala, Maharashtra, Goa and Tamil Nadu. Mr Mr Ramesh said the Centre would work in regard to the project. He also said it was a " very important programme " , and it was the responsibility of the Centre to take the initiative to restore and protect the badly damaged Western Ghats. For more: * http://mangalorean.com/news.php?newstype=broadcast & broadcastid=129417*<http://ma\ ngalorean.com/news.php?newstype=broadcast & broadcastid=129417> *How conservation can be a paying proposition. *Man-animal conflicts can be resolved if those affected become stakeholders in conservation, says wildlife biologist Mysore Doreswamy Madhusudan, who recently won a “Green Oscar”. For the cynics, the term “sustainable conservation” has increasingly come to mean planting a few token trees in return for cutting down swathes of forests for the vast industrial projects that India’s rapidly growing economy demands. And if the shrinking forest cover aggravates man-animal conflicts in which the animal comes off the worst, that’s considered “collateral damage”. Mysore Doreswamy Madhusudan, 37, co-founder and director, Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF), has worked on a model to show why such confrontation need not be destructive. Far from advocating the “pretty creatures” approach that has often alienated local communities, the wildlife biologist and ecologist promotes a scientific approach to inclusive conservation, in this case to prevent farmers from poisoning or using other brutal ways to kill wild elephants that destroy their crops in south India. Recently, recognition for the common-sense insights he has brought to conservation in the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve came in the form of the Whitley Fund For Nature (WFN) award. For more: * http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/how-conservation-can-bepaying-propos\ ition/360558/ *<http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/how-conservation-can-bepaying-prop\ osition/360558/> *'Goan forests are tiger habitats'.* Mhadei and Neturlim, Goa's wildlife sanctuaries declared in June 1999, were notified then as one of the finest tiger habitats in the country by the Goa government. They were also identified as a tiger conservation unit (TCU) along with continuous forest areas of Karnataka and Maharashtra in a study by international organisations. The World Wide Fund International, US Fish and Wildlife Services and Wild Life Conservation Society, New York in a study had categorized the Western Ghats as the second best tiger habitat in India after Sunderbans. The Mhadei, Neturlim, Bhagwan Mahavir and Cotigao wildlife sanctuaries, which form a contiguous corridor with Anshi national park in Karnataka are acknowledged by tiger conservation authorities as an important buffer zone. For more: * http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Goa/Goan-forests-are-tiger-habitats/articlesh\ ow/4618600.cms *<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Goa/Goan-forests-are-tiger-habitats/article\ show/4618600.cms> *ITC’s social forestry project now registered under Kyoto Protocol. *The social forestry project of ITC Ltd is now registered under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol. The social forestry initiative approved by the UNFCCC is ITC’s eighth CDM project, which has been registered, according to Mr Subhash Rustagi, Executive Vice-President (Corporate Environment Health and Safety), ITC Ltd. ITC applied for a CDM status for its social forestry project in 2005. The company conducted a pilot project wherein it generated about 57,000 certified emission reductions (CERs) or carbon credits from 3,070 hectares of land, involving 193 villages and 3,398 beneficiaries. The CER is a unit of greenhouse gas emission (one CER is equivalent to one tonne of carbon dioxide emission) that can be achieved by a CDM project and certified under the provisions of Article 12 of the Kyoto Protocol. The company has covered about 91,000 hectares of land under the social forestry project till date. Apart from providing a sustainable source of raw materials to the company’s paperboards business and providing 35 million man days of employment to the marginal sections of the society, the plantations have sequestered 3,695 kilo tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2008-09, higher than that released from the company’s operations (1,572 kilo tonnes). For more: * http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2009/06/07/stories/2009060750170400.htm*<htt\ p://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2009/06/07/stories/2009060750170400.htm> *Climate Change & Energy* *Climate change and agriculture. *The rise in global temperature owing to climate change will affect agriculture in strikingly different ways in the lower and higher latitudes. While in temperate latitudes a rise in temperature will help developed countries increase food productivity, it will have adverse effects in India and other countries in the tropics. The summer monsoon, which accounts for nearly 75 per cent of India’s rainfall, is critical for agriculture. Climate change is likely to intensify the variability of summer monsoon dynamics, leading to a rise in extreme events such as increased precipitation and heightened flood risks in some parts of the country and reduced rainfall and prolonged drought in other areas. A World Bank report on climate change impact based on case studies in India has focussed on drought-prone regions of Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, and flood-prone districts in Orissa on the edge of climate tolerance limits. It highlights the possibility of the yields of major dry land crops declining in Andhra Pradesh. Sugarcane farmers of Maharashtra may see yields go down by as much as 30 per cent. Rice production in Orissa will face a similar fate with yields in the flood-prone coastal regions dropping by12 per cent. For more: *http://www.hindu.com/2009/06/30/stories/2009063055940800.htm*<http://www.hindu.\ com/2009/06/30/stories/2009063055940800.htm> *Climate war: India, allies demand rich countries take 40% emission cuts by 2020.* India has extracted a small victory in one battle of the long-running climate war with key emerging economies forging an alliance that has formally demanded that industrialized nations take at least a 40% cut in their emissions below 1990 standards in the next 11 years, by 2020. The move, engineered after a great amount of persuasion and negotiations on the side, has ensured that the loss caused by fractures in the G77 block, which was tested to its limit in the just-concluded Bonn negotiations, is limited and the key countries from the developing world remain intact for the next round of UN climate negotiations. While China and India had individually demanded the deep cuts from the rich countries, the formal tabling of the demand in the draft agreement text being negotiated by 181 countries by the powerful collective including China, India and Brazil will put the rich nations on the defensive at least on one front. For more: * http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Climate-war-India-allies-demand-rich-co\ untries-take-40-emission-cuts-by-2020/articleshow/4663848.cms *<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Climate-war-India-allies-demand-rich-\ countries-take-40-emission-cuts-by-2020/articleshow/4663848.cms> *Breaking the climate deadlock. *Today, international climate change negotiations appear to have reached a deadlock. The run-up to the Copenhagen conference in December 2009 is producing little of substance even as an impressive body of evidence indicates that time is running out for averting irreversible climate change. The central fault-line in the climate change debate is the issue of equity. Despite the acknowledgment of equity issues in the 1992 U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the formulation of “common but differentiated responsibilities” of all nations, it has proved extraordinarily hard to concretise this principle in practice. But translating this into national and international strategies has come up against the interests of the rich, both between and within nations. Developed countries, responsible for over *three-quarters* of accumulated greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere, have taken little serious action to reduce their emissions. Despite the passage of the Kyoto Protocol requiring the so-called Annex-I advanced countries to reduce their emissions by 5 per cent below 1990 levels by 2005, emissions of Annex-I countries have actually *increased* by 17 per cent since 1992. The United States, until very recently the biggest emitter of GHGs in absolute terms and even now the highest emitter in per capita terms, despite the Obama Presidency, has made no commitment to binding emission reduction targets. For more: * http://www.hindu.com/2009/06/23/stories/2009062353970800.htm*<http://www.hindu.c\ om/2009/06/23/stories/2009062353970800.htm> *Australia's forests key to fighting global warming.* Ancient Australian forests are key to fighting climate change and contain the world's most dense carbon store, eclipsing tropical rainforests as efficient greenhouse gas absorbers, scientists said. Towering Mountain Ash forests covering Victoria state's cool highlands hold four times more carbon, or around 1,900 tonnes of carbon per hectare, than tropical forests, scientists at the Australian National University said. " The trees in these forests can grow to a very old age, at least 350 years, and they can grow very large, very tall, and they grow very dense, heavy wood, " said Brendan Mackey, a professor of environment science. The researchers studied biomass data from 132 forests around the world to discover regions storing the most carbon, with results published in the U.S.-based Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. For more: * http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Earth/Australias-forests-key-\ to-fighting-global-warming/articleshow/4663346.cms *<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Earth/Australias-forests-ke\ y-to-fighting-global-warming/articleshow/4663346.cms> *Argentine glacier advances despite global warming.* Argentina's Perito Moreno glacier is one of only a few ice fields worldwide that have withstood rising global temperatures. Nourished by Andean snowmelt, the glacier constantly grows even as it spawns icebergs the size of apartment buildings into a frigid lake, maintaining a nearly perfect equilibrium since measurements began more than a century ago. " We're not sure why this happens, " said Andres Rivera, a glacialist with the Center for Scientific Studies in Valdivia, Chile. " But not all glaciers respond equally to climate change.” For more: * http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Earth/Argentine-glacier-advan\ ces-despite-global-warming/articleshow/4659669.cms *<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Earth/Argentine-glacier-adv\ ances-despite-global-warming/articleshow/4659669.cms> *Alarm raised over forest plan to fight climate change*. An ambitious plan to fight climate change by making polluters pay to preserve forests has come under a cloud, with some environmentalists calling it unworkable and dangerous. The plan, known as Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD), is being pushed as a key element for a new global agreement to fight climate change after the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012. The rationale for the plan is largely uncontroversial. Environmentalists say the world needs forests to absorb the carbon in the atmosphere that is causing climate change. The world also needs to curtail the rate of deforestation, which through rotting dead trees and burning contributes around 20 percent of worldwide emissions every year -- roughly equivalent to the United States or China. The basic idea behind REDD is to work out how much carbon can be saved by not cutting down trees, and selling that carbon on the global market for big polluters to offset their own emissions. For more: * http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Earth/Flora--Fauna/Alarm-rais\ ed-over-forest-plan-to-fight-climate-change/articleshow/4608965.cms *<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Earth/Flora--Fauna/Alarm-ra\ ised-over-forest-plan-to-fight-climate-change/articleshow/4608965.cms> *Report says climate change is adding to migration.* Global warming is uprooting people from their homes and, left unchecked, could lead to the greatest human migration in history, said a report. Estimates vary on how many people are on the move because of climate change, but the report cites predictions from the International Organization for Migration that 200 million people will be displaced by environmental pressures by 2050. Some estimates go as high as 700 million, said the report, released at UN negotiations for a new climate treaty. Researchers questioned more than 2,000 migrants in 23 countries about why they moved, said Koko Warner of the UN University, which conducted the study with CARE International. For more: * http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Earth/Global-Warming/Report-s\ ays-climate-change-is-adding-to-migration-/articleshow/4641716.cms *<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Earth/Global-Warming/Report\ -says-climate-change-is-adding-to-migration-/articleshow/4641716.cms> *Himalayas warming faster than global average.* Northwestern Himalayas has become 1.4 degrees Celsius warmer in the last 100 years, a far higher level of warming than the 0.5-1.1 degrees for the rest of the globe, Indian scientists have found. Scientists from the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Pune University's Department of Geology examined the variation in precipitation (snowfall and rainfall) in the region and found that warming has led to a delay in the onset of winter and a reduction in snowfall. The study published in the International Journal of Climatology from the Royal Meteorological society, Britain, found that northwestern Himalayas have warmed at the rate of about 1.4 degrees Celsius in the last century compared to the global range of 0.5 to 1.1 degrees Celsius. For more: * http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Earth/Global-Warming/Himalaya\ s-warming-faster-than-global-average/articleshow/4617665.cms *<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Earth/Global-Warming/Himala\ yas-warming-faster-than-global-average/articleshow/4617665.cms> *Forestry & Biodiversity* *Amazon deforestation: Short-lived boost, big damage.* Clearing the Amazon rainforest for soy or cattle does not bring long-term social or economic benefit to local communities and threatens the environment, according to a study published. Huge swaths of the Brazilian rainforest are cut down, burnt or cleared each year, at an average rate of 1.8 million hectares (4.4 million acres) -- about the size of Kuwait -- because the land is worth more when deforested. Deforestation is moving at a sobering rate of over four football fields per minute. Since 2000, 155,000 square kilometers (over 59,800 square miles) of the Amazon have been cleared. But an international team of researchers that studied 286 Amazon municipalities with varying levels of deforestation found that the benefits of forest clearing, responsible for 20 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, were short-lived and really more akin to a " boom-and-bust " scenario. For more: * http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Earth/Flora--Fauna/Amazon-def\ orestation-Short-lived-boost-big-damage/articleshow/4652736.cms *<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Earth/Flora--Fauna/Amazon-d\ eforestation-Short-lived-boost-big-damage/articleshow/4652736.cms> *Alien invasion. *Biodiversity is the source of all ecological goods and services that constitute the source of living of all. India is not only gifted with geographical, climatic, cultural and social diversity but is also endowed enormously with biological diversity. The country is among the 12 mega gene centres of the world, and two of the 31 global hot spots of biodiversity (the North-eastern Himalayas and the Western Ghats) occur in this region. About 8 per cent of all the estimated species on the earth exist in India though it occupies only 2.4 per cent of the world’s land area. Among the existing biota, nearly 91,000 species of animals, 45,500 species of plants and 5,650 microbial species have already been documented in India’s 10 biogeographic regions. It is estimated that nearly 40 per cent of these are aliens, and 25 per cent of them have become invasive. The diverse agricultural systems, employing both traditional and modern systems of cultivation, utilise thousands of locally adapted as well as bred crop varieties and nearly 140 native breeds of livestock. The country is recognised as one of the eight “Vavilovian Centres” of origin and diversity of crop plants, having more than 300 wild ancestors and close relatives of cultivated plants still growing and evolving under natural conditions. About 168 domesticated species of crops (including 25 major and minor crop species) have originated and/or developed diversity in this part of the world. Indigenous medical systems utilise nearly 6,500 native plants for both human and animal health care. India’s diverse preponderance of native tribal and ethnic groups has contributed significantly to the conservation and diversification of biodiversity. For more: * http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/stories/20090703261306500.htm*<http://www.hinduo\ nnet.com/fline/stories/20090703261306500.htm> *167 new plant species discovered in India. *Two new species each of bamboo and cinnamon and three species of ginger were among a total 167 plants discovered by scientists in 2008 in the country. According to the recently released " Plant Discoveries 2008, " a publication of Botanical Survey of India (BSI), 137 plants were new to scientists while 30 were found in the country for the first time. " The BSI scientists discovered 30 species, one subspecies and seven varieties of new plants while 23 species, one subspecies and three varieties as new records for India, " BSI director M Sanjappa told PTI. He said that to make the publication more comprehensive, the discoveries reported by the taxonomists from academia and other institutions both within and outside the country were also included. They had reported three genera, 78 species, 15 subspecies, five varieties and three species as new records of India. For more: * http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/008200906081551.htm*<http://www.hindu.com/t\ hehindu/holnus/008200906081551.htm> *WWF speeds up efforts to conserve forests.* The World Wide Fund for Nature-Pakistan (WWF-Pakistan) has accelerated its efforts to conserve forests, freshwater and fish species in Sindh. “We are working on ‘Indus for All Program’ to conserve the biodiversity and ecological processes. We have cordial relations with Sindh government including Forest Department and we are jointly working to save Pai Forest in Nawabshah district,” WWF-Pakistan Dr Ghulam Akbar said in a statement. Elaborating on Indus for All Program, Dr Ghulam Akbar said that as part of current phase of the program, we are operating at four sites of the Indus Ecoregion in Thatta, Sanghar and Nawabshah. “The four priority sites include Ketti Bandar (deltaic ecosystem), Pai Forest (forest ecosystem) Keenjhar Lake (freshwater wetlands ecosystem) and Chotiari Reservoir (deserted-wetland ecosystem).” He said Indus supports one of the world’s largest irrigation canal system which sustains millions of people, the Director said. For more: * http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/Regional/K\ arachi/15-Jun-2009/WWF-speeds-up-efforts-to-conserve-forests *<http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/Regional\ /Karachi/15-Jun-2009/WWF-speeds-up-efforts-to-conserve-forests> *Marine & Oceans* *Mekong dolphins on brink of extinction.* A new report by the WWF (Worldwide fund for Nature) has revealed that pollution in the Mekong River has pushed the local population of Irrawaddy dolphins to the brink of extinction. The Mekong dolphin population is estimated at between 66 and 86 individuals inhabiting a 190km stretch of the Mekong River between Cambodia and Lao PDR. Since 2003, the population has suffered 88 deaths of which over 60 percent were calves under two weeks old. The latest population is estimated between 64 and 76 members. " Necropsy analysis identified a bacterial disease as the cause of the calf deaths. This disease would not be fatal unless the dolphin's immune systems were suppressed, as they were in these cases, by environmental contaminants, " said Dr Verne Dove, report author and veterinarian with WWF Cambodia. For more: * http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Earth/Flora--Fauna/Mekong-dol\ phins-on-brink-of-extinction/articleshow/4680217.cms *<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Earth/Flora--Fauna/Mekong-d\ olphins-on-brink-of-extinction/articleshow/4680217.cms> *Wildlife & Endangered Species* *Centre clears MP's proposal to shift male tiger to Panna. *The Centre has cleared a controversial proposal from Madhya Pradesh Government to shift a male tiger in the Panna sanctuary even as it maintained that accountability will be fixed for those responsible for vanishing big cats there. Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh recently gave nod to the Northern State proposal to translocate the big cat with an aim to repopulate endangered species in Panna park where two tigress from Bandhavgarh and Kanha parks were shifted in March. " The Minister has asked the state government to strictly adhere the tiger relocation protocol framed by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) while executing the project, " sources told PTI. The translocation of male tiger was halted abruptly last month by the NTCA following protest from wildlife experts and NGOs which alleged that the state government in violation of the norms was carrying out animal translocation in a haste. For more: * http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/001200906291572.htm*<http://www.hindu.com/t\ hehindu/holnus/001200906291572.htm> *45 tigers killed so far this year.* The government has been making all the right noises about its efforts to save the tiger. But the results, so far, have been little to roar about -- 2009 has, in fact, been the deadliest in recent years for the big cats. There is also a worrying trend of tiger deaths due to man-animal conflict, and not just poaching.Despite millions being pumped into saving tigers and interventions at the highest level, as many as 100 tigers have been killed in the past three years. Sources in Project Tiger, set up by the ministry of environment and forests, also confirm that the first six months of 2009 accounted for 45 of those deaths. Government statistics show 28 tiger deaths in 2008 and 27 in 2007. Two years ago, Madhya Pradesh's Panna reserve boasted at least two dozen tigers. Now it has none. " The government has been unable to control poaching, " said Sunita Narain, chairperson, National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), the empowered committee appointed by the government. She says though NTCA had submitted a report to the government, cautioning it about the increasing number of deaths this year, no action has been taken. " There is no dearth of funds with the government. But it is unable to protect the tigers because the guards are too old and cannot run around the reserves to break the nexus of poachers, " said Narain, adding that recruitment is handled by the states and the centre has not much say in it. " There are cases being reported of conflict between tigers fighting amongst themselves, because of the increasing human presence which is lessening their habitat, " she said. " We have also come across cases of human-animal conflicts because sometimes these tigers stray into villages. " For more: For mor: * http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_45-tigers-killed-so-far-this-year_1269404 *<http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_45-tigers-killed-so-far-this-year_1269404\ > *Env ministry approves tiger relocation protocol.* The Environment Ministry has approved a blueprint for tiger relocation prepared by National Tiger Conservation Authority, paving the way for the second phase of big cat population revival plan in the Sariska reserve of Rajasthan. " I have approved the protocol. It is an important plan for better tiger conservation in the country whenever there is translocation of animal, " Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said. After shifting three tigers -- a male and two females -- last year, the Rajasthan government had put on hold its plan to relocate two more animals after NTCA decided to frame guidelines detailing steps needed for the translocation process to be adopted by the states. For more: * http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Earth/Flora--Fauna/Env-minist\ ry-approves-tiger-relocation-protocol/articleshow/4688205.cms *<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Earth/Flora--Fauna/Env-mini\ stry-approves-tiger-relocation-protocol/articleshow/4688205.cms> *Sariska tigers to get hi-tech gadgets.* Having " chewed " their radio-collars, the three tigers in Sariska will soon get new high-tech and light weight gadgets around their necks to enable officials to track their movement. " This time we will use radio-collars having in-built antenna for animals unlike the earlier ones which had external antenna. We found that the predators had chewed each other's antenna during playing, " K Shankar, an expert from Wildlife Institute of India (WII), said. The collars weighing around one kg have been given free of cost by Canada-based firm, Lotek in view of the failure of its previous gadgets. " As per norms, the weight of the collar is much less than 5% of the body weight of the animal which is usually around 150 kgs. " For more: * http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Earth/Flora--Fauna/Sariska-ti\ gers-to-get-hi-tech-gadgets/articleshow/4657925.cms *<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Earth/Flora--Fauna/Sariska-\ tigers-to-get-hi-tech-gadgets/articleshow/4657925.cms> *Tiger reserve in Jharkhand to adopt Sariska model.* Faced with declining number of tigers, authorities at the Palamau Tiger Reserve will adopt the Sariska model of mating felines in enclosures to increase their numbers. The numbers of tigers in the reserve has declined from 45 in 2007 to 17 according to the last census in the 10,026 sq km reserve. " We have been directed by the Centre to increase the tiger population by adopting the model followed in Sariska to increase the population of tigers, " chief conservator of forest (Wildlife) and biodiversity, S K Sharma, said. Two enclosures of 50 hectares would be set up with a tigress each which would have exits to a larger enclosure of 200 hectare which would house a tiger, he said. For more: * http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Earth/Flora--Fauna/Tiger-rese\ rve-in-Jharkhand-to-adopt-Sariska-model-/articleshow/4667884.cms *<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Earth/Flora--Fauna/Tiger-re\ serve-in-Jharkhand-to-adopt-Sariska-model-/articleshow/4667884.cms> *It's official: Panna reserve has no tiger*. Panna Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh has no tiger. A national park that once boasted of having over 40 tigers six years ago, has repeated the Sariska story. State's minister for forests Rajendra Shukla confirmed what was being suspected: that the last resident tiger of the reserve sighted early this year is untraceable. There are only two borrowed tigresses, translocated from nearby Kanha and Badhavgarh, left in the park. These were meant to accompany the last of the tiger at Panna. A special investigation team, headed by former chief of Project Tiger P K Sen, was sent to Panna by National Tiger Conservation Authority last month. The team conducted an inquiry and interviews — all on camera — to now claim that Panna has lost all of its own tigers. The team members visited Panna again on June 10 and rechecked park's logs and documents and went back to New Delhi. The team's final report on the disappeared tigers is expected to be submitted to the Centre by the end of this month. For more: * http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Earth/Flora--Fauna/Its-offici\ al-Panna-reserve-has-no-tiger/articleshow/4653794.cms *<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Earth/Flora--Fauna/Its-offi\ cial-Panna-reserve-has-no-tiger/articleshow/4653794.cms> *Tiger population dwindling in MP.* Madhya Pradesh is on the verge of losing its 'Tiger state' tag to Karnataka due to dwindling number of the big cats. In the last 13 months, five tigers and tigresses died in the state capital's national park and zoos, wildlife experts said. According to a tiger census conducted by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) in 2007, Madhya Pradesh has 300 big cats followed by Karnataka with 290. Uttarakhand was on the third spot with 178 tigers and tigresses followed by Uttar Pradesh (109) and Maharashtra (103), Andhra Pradesh (95) while in Tamil Nadu the population of tigers was 76. Another tiger census conducted by the Indian Wildlife Institute (WII) puts the wild cat population in five tiger reserves in Madhya Pradesh as - Kanha (89), Bandhavgarh (47), Satpura (39), Pench (33) and Panna (24) lower at 232. For more: * http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Earth/Flora--Fauna/Tiger-popu\ lation-dwindling-in-MP-/articleshow/4631848.cms *<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Earth/Flora--Fauna/Tiger-po\ pulation-dwindling-in-MP-/articleshow/4631848.cms> *Fresh tiger census in October.* A tiger census would be conducted in October this year by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) after a gap of two years amid fears of declining population of the animal in the country. The WII would employ latest gadgets like camera traps and ecological density methods to conduct the census to know the exact population of tigers and prepare their DNA profile, WII sources said. " The pugmark method would not be used this time as certain discrepancies were found in the past, " WII Dean V B Mathur said. For more: * http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Earth/Flora--Fauna/Fresh-tige\ r-census-in-October-/articleshow/4636743.cms *<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Earth/Flora--Fauna/Fresh-ti\ ger-census-in-October-/articleshow/4636743.cms> *Capturing the elusive cat.* When Aishwarya Maheshwari saw a sudden cloud of dust rising along the slopes of the mountains he was surveying in the Kargil and Drass sector of Jammu & Kashmir, his hands immediately reached for the binoculars. What he saw made him tremble and smile in anticipation. He had spotted the snow leopard, one of the world's most elusive creatures, which was giving chase to a herd of Asiatic Ibex, a species of mountain goats. " Unfortunately the memory of the 1999 conflict has overshadowed the region's rich wildlife. It is here that one of world's most elusive creatures, the snow leopard, roams wild and free, " said Maheshwari who is a researcher with WWF-India. During his interaction with locals, Maheshwari also learnt about the tremendous decline in wildlife sightings, post the 1999 war. So much so that even the common resident birds had disappeared. " This is the first photographic evidence of snow leopard in Kargil and Drass sector of Jammu and Kashmir. Though locals claim to have seen the animal, there was no evidence of presence of the big cat, " said Ameen Ahmed, senior communications manager, WWF-India, adding that there has been no study of wildlife done in this violence hit area. Maheshwari, in fact, is part of the WWF team that's carrying out a base line study of wildlife in Kargil and Drass sectors. For more: * http://www.dnaindia.com/scitech/report_capturing-the-elusive-cat_1266960*<http:/\ /www.dnaindia.com/scitech/report_capturing-the-elusive-cat_1266960> *All eyes on Kaziranga, free run for poachers in Orang.* With Kaziranga National Park, home to the largest number of one-horned rhinos in the world, getting maximum attention for conservation and protection, poachers have shifted focus to Orang National Park in northern Assam. As this 78.82 sq km park faces a shortage of manpower and equipment, poachers have managed to kill at least three rhinos this year. “Poaching is definitely Orang’s most important problem, especially with the park having very dense human habitation on its western, northern and eastern boundaries,” said park director S Momin. While poachers killed a full-grown female rhino and ran away with its horn, Momin’s men along with the police managed to nab two members of the gang responsible for the crime. For more: * http://www.indianexpress.com/news/All-eyes-on-Kaziranga--free-run-for-poachers-i\ n-Orang/480013 *<http://www.indianexpress.com/news/All-eyes-on-Kaziranga--free-run-for-poachers\ -in-Orang/480013> *Second home for Gir's big cats remains mired*. India's Asiatic lions are the most vulnerable of all the big cats as they live in a single area in Gujarat, making them prone to diseases as well as other threats, and yet calls for creating a second home by the scientific community have been repeatedly ignored, say experts. The sprawling Gir National Park in western India is home to some 350 Asiatic lions, the last refuge for these cats. In the past, the lions had roamed in almost the entire Central Asia. The Wildlife Institute of India (WII), a leading scientific organisation, recommended the Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh for setting up a second home for the Gir lions. But the Gujarat government rejected the proposal, saying it lacks scientific backing and security. For more: * http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Earth/2nd-home-for-lions-in-t\ rouble/articleshow/4688195.cms *<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Earth/2nd-home-for-lions-in\ -trouble/articleshow/4688195.cms> *Karnataka forests world's largest home to Lion-tailed Macaque. *The thick Sirsi-Honnavara forests of Karnataka in Western Ghats has been found to be the world's largest home to Lion-Tailed Macaque, a critically endangered species. The LTM belonging to primates is endemic to the Western Ghats. A recent joint study by two experts led to the finding of 638 LTMs in Sirsi-Honnavara region in 32 groups falling in Kyadagi, Siddapura ranges in Sirsi forest division and Gersoppa, Kumta ranges in Honnavara forest division. The study was led by Chikmagalur-based wildlife biologist and renowned primatologist Dr Honanavalli N Kumara, and Vijay Mohan Raj, Deputy Conservator of Forests, Sirsi. It estimated the number of LTMs for the entire Western Ghats to be around 3,500-4,000 with the population in Sirsi-Honnavara being the largest. LTMs also figure in the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural resources (IUCN) " red list " , categorised as Low Risk Near Threatened (LRNT). For more: * http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/008200906101251.htm*<http://www.hindu.com/t\ hehindu/holnus/008200906101251.htm> *Live And Let Live.* The elephant has been venerated in India since ancient times as the living manifestation of Lord Ganesha, the benevolent God who protects mankind. To wildlife biologists, 'Elephas maximus', the Asian elephant, is the largest herbivore, a 'flagship species' that nurtures and protects the health and vitality of our forests. History provides interesting insights into the close nexus between the growth of human civilisations and elephant habitats in and around river valleys in India, a shared heritage we may destroy only at our own peril. Unwittingly perhaps, we are doing just that driving the wild elephant out of his home, his living and breeding space, his food sources, his very sustenance. In that process, we are irreparably damaging our own ecological future. This is happening in almost all elephant ranges where elephant populations are concentrated, in south, central, north-eastern and north-western India. A hundred years ago India's forest cover was estimated to be about 50 per cent of the total land area of 33 lakh sq km. This came down to 30 per cent in 1950. The latest figures, according to the State of the Forest Report 2005 just published, put it at 20.6 per cent. Of this, 'dense forest' (canopy density exceeding 50 per cent) is barely 11.8 per cent, the rest is degraded or scrub forest. For more: * http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Opinion/Editorial/TOP-ARTICLE--Live-And-Let-L\ ive/articleshow/4677182.cms *<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Opinion/Editorial/TOP-ARTICLE--Live-And-Let\ -Live/articleshow/4677182.cms> *Birds* *Rampant poaching of Sarus crane in Uttar Pradesh.* The population of Sarus crane in Etawah district of Uttar Pradesh is fast dwindling due to illegal poaching. Designated as the official bird of Uttar Pradesh, the Sarus crane is the tallest of the cranes, standing six feet tall. According to a study by the Bombay Natural History Society, the concentrations of the birds are highest in Mainpuri and Etawah districts of the state. Around 30 percent species of cranes used to come to the Etawah bird sanctuary due to which in 2000, a Sarus crane protection centre was set up. Visitors from far flung places also used to come to watch the birds. For more: * http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Earth/UP-Poaching-of-Sarus/ar\ ticleshow/4663181.cms *<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Earth/UP-Poaching-of-Sarus/\ articleshow/4663181.cms> *Mystery shrouds death of 1200 parrots. *Mystery shrouds the death of over 1200 rose ringed parakeets ( parrots) at a ‘harvested’ field of G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology ( GBPUAT) at Pant Nagar in Uttarakhand. According to the Vice-Chancellor, B. S. Bisht, the birds may have died in the squall on the night intervening June 5 and 6. The area witnessed swift surface winds blowing at about 74 km per hour, hail stones with diameters ranging from 2 to 5 mm and about 43 mm of rain within an hour that night. A large number of trees were uprooted in the squall. Initial reports of the post mortem conducted in the varsity revealed that the parrots were having injuries on the head, chest and wings. Further investigations were being conducted to find out whether the birds had been poisoned, Dr Bisht said adding that samples had been sent for analysis to IVRI and the State Government laboratory. The Vice-Chancellor added that no pesticide operations were on at the varsity. For more: * http://www.thehindu.com/2009/06/08/stories/2009060857630700.htm*<http://www.theh\ indu.com/2009/06/08/stories/2009060857630700.htm> *Lear’s macaw returns. *One of the rare parrots of the world, Lear’s macaw has come back from the brink. The rise in the numbers of this intelligent, indigo-coloured, tool-using bird in northeastern Brazil is a fine example of what sustained conservation action can achieve: insulate rare species from chronic threats, and stave off extinction. The story of the twinkle-eyed macaw is uplifting. From fewer than 100 birds two decades ago, its population has risen to an estimated 960. The species had declined, like several other parrots, mainly because it was trapped in the wild to feed the illegal bird trade. Its favoured food, the fruit of the licuri palm, has disappeared in many places. Consequently, the beleaguered macaws are known to raid corn farms — an act that provokes farmers to shoot them. Concern for the bird’s future was so high that it was, until recently, classified as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), in its Red List. An improved population has lowered its threat status to ‘endangered.’ Like all good protection initiatives, the American Bird Conservancy and its Brazilian partner, Fundacao Biodiversitas, focussed on expanding habitat and keeping poachers away from nesting and roosting sites of the macaw, mainly in the Canudos reserve in Bahia. For more: * http://www.hindu.com/2009/06/23/stories/2009062353890800.htm*<http://www.hindu.c\ om/2009/06/23/stories/2009062353890800.htm> *Reptiles & Amphibians* *Increase in reptile smuggling worries wildlife officials.* An alarming increase in the smuggling of reptiles such as monitor lizards, snakes and turtles in the Tarai belt of Uttar Pradesh bordering Nepal has prompted the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau to issue an alert. " We fear that there is possible involvement of an organized nexus of cross-border poachers who are swiftly smuggling the reptiles to the international market via Nepal route where political instability has made their task easier, " Ramesh Pandey of WCCB said. He was of the view that the new emerging pattern in wildlife trade from the region that borders with Nepal as well as the state of Uttarakhand need to be tracked. For more: * http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Earth/Flora--Fauna/Increase-i\ n-reptile-smuggling-worries-wildlife-officials-/articleshow/4641744.cms *<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Earth/Flora--Fauna/Increase\ -in-reptile-smuggling-worries-wildlife-officials-/articleshow/4641744.cms> *EVENTS* *Second World Congress On Agroforestry:* 23 August 2009 - 28 August 2009. Nairobi, Kenya; *http://www.worldagroforestry.org/wca2009/*<http://www.worldagroforestry.org/wca\ 2009/> *World Climate Conference 3;* 31 August 2009 - 4 September 2009. Geneva, Switzerland; *http://www.wmo.int/pages/world_climate_conference*<http://www.wmo.int/pages/wor\ ld_climate_conference> *11th Annual Bioecon Conference: Economic Instruments To Enhance The Conservation And Sustainable Use Of Biodiversity;* 21 September 2009 - 22 September 2009. Venice, Italy; * http://www.bioecon.ucl.ac.uk/04_11_ann-conf.htm*<http://www.bioecon.ucl.ac.uk/04\ _11_ann-conf.htm> *High-Level Conference On Climate Change: Technology Development And Transfer;* 22 October 2009 - 23 October 2009. New Delhi, India; * http://www.un.org/esa/dsd/dsd_aofw_cc/cc_conf1009.shtml*<http://www.un.org/esa/d\ sd/dsd_aofw_cc/cc_conf1009.shtml> *7th World Forum Of Sustainable Development: Paris 2009;* 19 November 2009 - 20 November 2009. Paris, France; *http://www.fmdd.fr/english_version.html*<http://www.fmdd.fr/english_version.htm\ l> *Twenty-First Meeting Of The Parties To The Montreal Protocol (MOP-21);* 4 November 2009 - 8 November 2009. Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt; * http://ozone.unep.org/* <http://ozone.unep.org/> *Gita Warrier* *Library & Documentation Officer* *WWF-India, 172B Lodhi Estate,* *New Delhi.* -------------- Take the lead on climate change See the World in a whole new light Join Earth Hour * 8:30 pm to 9:30 pm on 28th March 2009** **www.earthhour.in * <http://www.earthhour.in/> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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